You can specify the SELinux mode using the configuration file /etc/sysconfig/selinux.

# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.
# SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
#       enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced.
#       permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
#       disabled - No SELinux policy is loaded.
SELINUX=enforcing
# SELINUXTYPE= type of policy in use. Possible values are:
#       targeted - Only targeted network daemons are protected.
#       strict - Full SELinux protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted

Setting the value to enforcing is the same as adding enforcing=1 to your command line when booting the kernel to turn enforcing on, while setting the value to permissive is the same as adding enforcing=0 to turn enforcing off. Note that the command line kernel parameter overrides the configuration file.

However, setting the value to disabled is not the same as the selinux=0 kernel boot parameter. Rather than fully disabling SELinux in the kernel, the disabled setting instead turns enforcing off and skips loading a policy.

Source: http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/selinux-faq-fc3/index.html#id2825945